Names Lacked Variety in History

Between today and Saturday, my genealogy column, Roots to the Past, is available in the following Atlantic Canada newspapers:

Tuesday: The Kings County Record (Sussex)

Wednesday: The Lunenburg County Progress Bulletin

Thursday: The Western Star (Corner Brook)

Saturday: The Citizen (Amherst)

Saturday: Times & Transcript (Moncton)

Title: Names Lacked Variety in History

Snippet: It’s been more than nine years since I sat with a list of names on my lap, looking for the perfect one for a child. Being a writer of fiction, I have plenty of resources. Books and websites abound with names from cultures world-wide. Often they include meanings or origins. Thousands upon thousands of names crossed in front of my eyes on the search to find the ideal one for my boy.

If I hadn’t found one I loved, I could have easily done what many others have and created a new name. Combining two names such as Dale and Viola to make Vidalia is one example. Or a place could have served as a name such as Sydney, Dakota or Cheyenne. Flowers also make great names: Daisy, Hyacinth and Buttercup. Over the years, many children have been given the names of the month in which they were born: May, April and June.

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4 thoughts on “Names Lacked Variety in History”

Here’s me grandkids: Memphis Raine, Pheonix Storme, Vienna Mysst, Atlanta Solstice. Being the grandmom you get no say but I actually like the names. It begs the question “do kids live up to their names?” I can’t see my kids being called anything else but theirs. Genealogically speaking though, what a headache the repetitive naming system was. Don’t know that the ancestors ever though of straying from their tiny communities though!

Those are awesome names. I can’t even pick a favourite. Raine, Storme, Mysst and Solstice are right out of novel. Mmm, perhaps I’ll make note of them. They could be siblings who join forces to fight evil. lol.